Gift Crafting is Done!

I am more than a little relieved to be done making Christmas gifts for the year. I've been working on them steadily since early autumn and I need some selfish crafting again.

I did a bit of toy knitting for a niece and a nephew.


This is a Fuzzy Mitten pattern knit in Berroco Comfort.

And this is Boo. I've been wanting to knit Boo for myself for a long time so I had a hard time convincing myself to part with him. Now that the gift crafting is done, I'll be knitting myself a Boo for Christmas.


Boo comes from a Mochimochi Land pattern. His favorite word is Yahtzee!

The Crochet Finishes

Many thanks to all of you for your good wishes for our move and kind comments on Miss Marple! We are enjoying our new place quite a lot and the sewing room, which I sometimes like to call "The Stitchery", is fantastic! It is so nice to have everything easily accessible and have space to leave a project out if I wish.

I have managed several small finishes over the past few months and am almost done with another quilt. I can hardly believe it--two in one year! :) I'll be posting photos of the projects here and there as I am able.

Today's finishes are of the crochet kind. Sadly, I've not done much in the way of amigurumi lately but I hope to change that soon!

Here is one recent finish--actually, I think I crocheted him up in May but didn't have glue to attach the stick!
Lemon Lollypop Bear is from a pattern by Berrysprite who makes some of the most adorable amis I have seen.

The final three photos are all from patterns in the book Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Lacy Crochet. I love this book and I recommend it for anyone interested in lace crochet.


These first two doilies were a birthday gift for my mom. I used DMC Cebelia crochet cotton size 10 in peach and off-white.

The final doily is also DMC Cebelia in a minty green shade and the off-white. I made it as a gift for my mother-in-law.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

A Year's Worth of Quilt

I am happy to report that I finished my quilt this week (the one I've been working on for close to a year)! There hasn't been much quilting content to post on the blog, as I've just been piecing and quilting and I live in an apartment with cave-like lighting--so photography of large projects is often not worthwhile.

I used the Moda U pattern for Chelsea's Boutique because it was love at first sight. I used stash fabric rather than the Chelsea's Boutique fabric and this is my first stash quilt! And it's all mine. :)


We'll be moving next Thursday a few miles down the road. I am so excited because I will have a sewing room with a sky light! I keep dreaming about the space I will have for all of my quilting supplies. Sigh. :)

I've decided to name the quilt "Miss Marple" in honor of the pleasant hours I spent watching her solve mysteries while I worked on my quilt. Very enjoyable!

Now I must get back to packing. Have a nice weekend!

Safely at its destination

The package I sent to my partner for the Flickr amigurumi group swap finally arrived! Here are the three amis I made for her. The mouse I had made before for Lucas and it was so cute that I had to make another. The kitty is from a pattern I bought from stripeyblue on etsy, called Alley Cats. The acorn with removable top came from a Japanese crochet book (ISBN 9784834726374).


I also made a crochet hook case for her. Since I knew she liked cats, I had to go buy some of the London Cats fabric! The tutorial for the case is here.


She has a very nice photo of the whole package in her flickr photostream.

Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts 2009

Here are some photos I took yesterday at this year's Arts Fest in State College.

Italian Street Painting:





Some of the vendors:

The booth with the tree image contained all framed batiks. The tree was my favorite.

Garden Art Sculptures:



Temporary landscaping on Allen Street:

I can't stop starting

I thought I was doing a pretty good job of finishing up some UFOs earlier in the year. I don't know quite when it happened, but I stopped finishing projects because I was dazzled by all of the fun new projects out there.

A few things I started:
1. a series of the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments. I've stitched: 4 (but not the first four).
2. a dishcloth. Finished.

Wheatfields dishcloth knit in Sugar & Cream.

3. Two quilts! That is in addition to the one I've been working on for almost a year and the two that I started last year but have not touched for a while. Of the newest quilts, one is a gift and the other is the Christmas Lights Mystery by Bonnie Hunter. I've always wanted to join one of her mysteries!

4. I've started three wearable knitting projects. I finished: 1.

The Springtime Bandit scarf in Gems green merino sportweight. I love it and I will be done knitting by next spring (hopefully sooner).

I took a fair isle knitting class at Stitch Your Art Out. I made a headband! This was my first time knitting fair isle and I loved it. The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca & Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted. Knit on size 8 needles.


I'm also working on a spring/summer cardigan in cotton. It happens to be green. I keep knitting the wrong size.

Back when I was crocheting my flower garland, I also made these oval center roses but never remembered to take a photo. You could probably do various projects with this pattern and I think it may be my favorite from the book. Suzann Thompson, the author/designer, made a gorgeous shawl out of these roses.

Oval Center Rose from Crochet Bouquet

I participated in a swap this summer in the Flickr Amigurumi Group. My swap partner has not received her package but I received mine from Nidia in Argentina (Tarja^Gurumi). I love it! There's nothing better than a happy pudding. :)


That's all for now!

A Brand New Bag

A bit of sewing has been going on around here. May I present to you my take on the Amy Butler Nappy Bag. It is the perfect size for larger knit or crochet projects! The fabric has been on my mind since the first time I saw it at the shop and the wheels have been turning while I tried to come up with the perfect project for it.


Sorry for the poor photos. I'll get some nicer ones later this summer.

This pattern is ideal for any skill level and would be a great project for beginning sewers or for quilters who have not sewn before. I was really impressed with how clear the instructions were and there were several helpful illustrations included. All of the steps were presented in a logical order.

A few reflections on my experience:
1. The particular type of interfacing I happened to have on hand required a damp pressing. This shrunk my fabric and made fitting pieces together a bit of a chore. I'll be throwing this interfacing out with the garbage.
2. There are three pockets each on the front and rear interior of the bag, which I really like; however, I did not care for the placement of the bottle pockets (for the baby bottles). In sewing them to each end of the interior (they are centered across the side seams inside the bag), I felt as though I was loosing the use of the pockets they were attached to because they would be stitched partially closed. I opted to leave the bottle pockets off.
3. I also added a strip of fabric attached to the center back of the bag with a magnetic closure and added the other half to the front. Had I been thinking ahead, I would have added a magnetic closure to the exterior of the fabric before attaching the lining, thereby eliminating the need for the strip of fabric across the top.
4. Sometimes, the layers of fabric become quite thick. It's a good idea to have a walking foot and a size 14 needle handy near the end.
5. This bag was a bit bigger than I anticipated (apparently, I didn't pay attention to the dimensions). I think it would be fun to make it a little smaller or even a purse size.

I would highly recommend this pattern. It makes a fabulous bag and you'll learn a lot in the process! I'll be teaching a class to make the Nappy Bag this summer at Stitch Your Art Out.

This must be a record!

I'm posting again! And so soon!

I wanted to share another recent finish--a little knit purse decorated with flowers. The knit flowers are for a class I'll be teaching this summer from Nicky Epstein's book, Knitted Flowers. In this case, I chose to make just a few varieties of flowers. I think my favorite is the rose. I love the pattern and especially liked using it with the yarn, Lamb's Pride Worsted, in two-tone pink. The other two flowers were made using Berroco Comfort and I added some buttons for their centers. There are a lot of other lovely flower patterns in this book that I will be trying out this summer. Definitely a fun and fast project!


The bag was really just a means to display the flowers, but I loved knitting it! I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK (1 ball) and the pattern came from the book, Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders. It was easy to follow and knit up in no time.